SCRF chief meets with Serbia leaders

MOSCOW, June 20 (Itar-Tass) - Nikolai Patrushev, Secretary of the Security Council of the Russian Federation (SCRF), and the leadership of Serbia have discussed trade-and-economic relations between the two countries and international security problems of current concern, including the situation in Syria, Afghanistan, and ABM development-related matters.

The SCRF press service reports that Patrushev, leading a Russian inter-agency delegation, on Wednesday met with Serbian President Tomislav Nikolic, Ivica Dacic, Premier and Minister of the Interior, as well as Aleksandar Vucic, First Vice-Premier and Minister of Defence.

"At Wednesday's talks, the sides discussed the state of and prospects for Russia-Serbia relations, and exchanged views on the most topical international and regional security problems, including the situation in Syria, Afghanistan, and ABM-related matters. Special emphasis was laid on the development of trade-and-economic relations, specifically large-scale financial and infrastructure projects being implemented through the OAO RZD (railways) and Sberbank (savings)," an SCRF press service official pointed out.

Those present at the meeting also considered prospects for interaction in the fields of fuel and power, military and technical military cooperation, ways to step up work and information exchanges through law enforcement agencies and special services.

"Serbian Head of Government Ivica Dacic accepted with gratitude an invitation extended by the SCRF Secretary to attend the 4th international meeting of high officials who are in charge of security affairs; the international meeting is due to be held in July 2013 in Vladivostok," the press service official added.